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Scientists are decoding saltwater crocodile talk. And the reptiles have a lot to say. Despite their reputation for being stealthy, crocodiles are very vocal. Now a group of Australian researchers are using video and audio monitoring to try to decipher what their calls mean.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 11:42 PM PST - 13 comments

The Fender Rhodes electric piano was everywhere in the 70's and 80's - and remains popular into the present. Its inventor Harold Rhodes was a piano teacher who during WWII was asked to develop a musical therapy for wounded soldiers recuperating in the hospital. Rhodes designed a small piano that could be played in bed by the recovering patients. It was a successful project, and he continued to develop his design further in the post-war years, first on his own then for the Fender company in the 60's and 70's. Rhodes died in 2001 (NYT obit, non-paywalled link). [more inside]
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:51 PM PST - 35 comments

There are two ways of reading the central Maríasian lesson that we are nothing more nor less than the stories we tell about ourselves. In its negative form, it admonishes us that life is a brittle, insubstantial thing, a story that goes on falsifying itself day after day. In its positive form, it posits that we are constantly inventing ourselves afresh—indeed, that there is something fundamentally life-affirming in the phantasmal nature of the self. from Empty Suits by Bailey Trela
posted by chavenet at 12:28 PM PST - 1 comments

In “The World Is Not Ending,” [2:21:28, CW] video philosopher Sophie from Mars discusses what is to be done and her recent attempts at growing culinary mushrooms at home.
posted by ob1quixote at 11:58 AM PST - 7 comments

misinformation susceptibility In this study, you will be asked to rate 20 news headlines as real or fake and answer a few optional questions about your background. Results given in four categories, including:
- Veracity Discernment: 100% (ability to accurately distinguish real from fake news)
- Distrust/Naïvité: 0 (ranges from -10 to +10, overly skeptical to overly gullible) [more inside]
posted by spamandkimchi at 9:28 AM PST - 106 comments